On 19 February 2009, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC welcomed Madame Kong Lingzhi and Prof. Yu Xin to Government House. AAMH was honoured to facilitate a week long program for Madame Kong Lingzhi, Vice Director, Non Communicable Diseases, Department of Disease Prevention and Control, Ministry of Health, PRC and Prof. Yu Xin, Executive Director, Peking University Institute of Mental Health to Australia in February 2009. Their extensive program included an invitation to meet with HE Ms Quentin Bryce at Government House in Canberra
In August 2009, a delegation visited Melbourne for the development of protocols for psychosis treatment and management and mental health human resources building project.
In December 2009, AAMH applied for the Australian Leadership Award Fellowship. This is a program from the Australian government for professionals with leadership roles that can influence social and economic policy reform
Professor Ma Hong is the current Director, Department of Public Mental Health, Institute of Mental Health, Peking University. Ma Hong is a key figure in the national mental health reform which is underway as a result of the Government of China investing 3.7 billion into its more than 200 public health programs including 6,860,000 RMB into mental health training in 2005. There have been other productive visits, successful projects and rich collaborations between Ma Hong’s Institute of Mental Health and Asia Australia Mental Health.
The Australian Leadership Award Fellowship was able to build on the strength of this relationship between the 2 countries, expand the friendship, and add depth and meaning to the partnership. With this Fellowship, Ma Hong was able to visit Goulburn Valley Mental Health, Shepparton and had a unique exposure to the strategies used in rural areas to support national and state government mental health initiatives, in the light of particular rural issues such as health disparities, access, partnerships, health literacy and impact of chronic and acute environmental conditions.